Archive

Britain should stop trying to pretend that its empire was benevolent

May 13, 2016 | 10 October 2018

Interesting 2016 article from Alan Lester, Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Sussex on Britain's attitude to empire and the racist underpinnings of the view that the empire was benevolent. Published in The Conversation.

Breaking the silence on partition and British Colonial history (Published 31 July 2017)

Reflections 70 years after the partition of the Indian sub-continent | 11 October 2018

Many British south Asian families were caught up in the violence of 1947 when Britain partitioned India. Seventy years on, some are telling their stories for the first time. Kavita Puri is the editor of Our World and presenter of Partition Voices on BBC Radio 4

5 of the worst atrocities carried out by British Empire, after ‘historical amnesia’ claims

Samuel Osborne, The Independent | 06 March 2017

The British people suffer "historical amnesia" over the atrocities committed by their former empire , an Indian MP and author has claimed. Former UN under-secretary general Dr Shashi Tharoor said the British education system fails to tell the real story of empire .

Legacy of Colonialism Exhibition

Secretary of State's Rules of Engagement in Northern Ireland

Pat Finucane Centre | 24 October 2017

A memo from a private secretary to the Secretary of State in 1975 suggesting that the SoS would like to see '... some form of dispensation permitting the Forces to open fire in an emergency without fear of subsequent legal action.' The author speculates that compensation claims by the relatives of t...

Families Challenge MoD and Prime Minister in London

Pat Finucane Centre | 26 October 2017

In November 2016 the families of Christopher Quinn and Kevin Heatley along with the Pat Finucane Centre utilised Advans in London to highlight the murders of their relatives and the appalling treatment they endured after the killings, in response to Theresa May's comments on those pushing for human...

Murdered by the Glenanne gang: ‘Patrick lived till the ripe old age of 13’

British army 'covered up' UDR units links to UVF

thedetail.tv | 31 July 2011

The investigative website, The Detail, in co-operation with the Irish News, published a numbers of articles based on documents uncovered by the PFC at the National Archive in Kew. The declassified documents concern security investigations into loyalist infiltration of 10 UDR, the Belfast city Battal...

Low Intensity Operations: Subversion, Insurgency and Peacekeeping

Frank Kitson | 08 November 2011

Low Intensity Operations is an important, controversial and prophetic book that has had a major influence on the conduct of modern warfare. First published in 1971, it was the result of an academic year Frank Kitson spent at University College, Oxford, under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence,...

THE British government was aware of large-scale collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries from as early as 1973, according to documents revealed today in the Irish News. The files show Downing Street knew that significant numbers of soldiers were linked to loyalist paramilitaries...

Shock truth of bar killing

Steven McCaffery, Irish News | 02 May 2006

Thirty years ago a gun and bomb attack on a south Armagh pub killed three people. Now a bereaved relative is establishing the truth of what happened. What he has learned may force a rethink of the history of the Troubles.

Terrible legacy of the past

Steven McCaffery, Irish News | 02 May 2006

Republican violence took a heavy toll on the ranks of the Ulster Defence Regiment. One former member was among those who counted the cost ... MEMORIES of the Troubles revisit Reatha Hassan every night. "I have to take a pill to get to sleep," she says. "I have dreams. There is one where I see someon...

UDR the top source of arms 'for Protestant extremists'

Steven McCaffery, Irish News | 02 May 2006

The collusion file obtained by The Irish News is made up of several documents, but the most important is a 14-page paper stamped 'secret' and entitled: 'Subversion in the UDR'. This is a detailed summary. The document was compiled by British military intelligence and a covering letter written by a b...

Subversion report 'no surprise'

Steven McCaffery, Irish News | 02 May 2006

The 'Subversion in the UDR' document is accompanied by four letters of response from very senior officials. And although the document is described as a draft, it is significant that none of the letter writers disagree with its contents. One goes so far as to say he wishes he "could say the contents...